Abstract

Estrogenic potential of environmental samples is frequently assessed using receptor-based functional assays. Using the yeast estrogen screen (YES) developed by Routledge and Sumpter, we assessed the ability of cadmium to activate the estrogen receptor-mediated response. No induced transcriptional activity was observed with a range of CdCl2 concentrations (1 nm¿1 mM). But, when combining cadmium with the model compound 17ß-estradiol, cadmium was able to significantly potentiate the induced estrogenic response for concentrations ranging from 15 nM to 1 µM. A maximal effect was observed at 0.5 µM with a ten fold reduction of the 17ß-estradiol EC50.